Asia's Cities

Problems and Options

Bibliographic Data

ID4119843
AuthorsKingsley Davis (corresponding author)
Year1975
Volume1
Issue1
Pages71
Publication date1975-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePopulation and Development Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/1972271
OpenAlexW2335243672
LanguageEN
Citations received12

Asia is by far the largest continental area, comprising 27 percent of the earth's land surface and 60 percent of the world's people. It is so big that, for convenience if nothing else, it is often reduced in size by omitting the Asian part of the Soviet Union. The Asian part of the Soviet Union is over a third (38.3 percent) of all Asia; indeed, its size is almost equal to that of South America. Nevertheless, I shall follow the practice of omitting the USSR from Asia, because in my view the boundary between European and Asian Russia now has little significance compared to that between the USSR and its neighbors to the East and South. Even outside the Soviet Union, however, Asia is a vast area, comprising 17.7 percent of the earth's land and (in 1975) 57 percent of its people. Naturally, such a large region exhibits much diversity, with the result that generalizations about all of Asia are dubious. However, my purpose is not simply to generalize about Asia as a whole but to examine particular regions for whatever light they may throw on cities. In doing this, I am handicapped, like all other investigators, by the fact that in substantial parts of Asia our demographic information is very poor. It is particularly poor with respect to the most populous country, China. As of 1975, the United Nations gives China (excluding Taiwan) 823 million people. If approximately correct, this represents 36 percent of non-Soviet Asia's total population. To be ignorant of such a large portion of the region's people is discouraging, but we have to do the best we can with fragmentary scraps of information

Business · Geography · Regional science · Economic Zones and Regional Development · Global trade and economics

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